E458 

.2 


i^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^l 


.P34 


i^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 










LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



QDDD17HfiD5b 


















%.^" 





•^ i'* 

•^C:-^'^ 






'>o^ 








'^o^ 



v^ .i:^'. 






.0' **.-••:?;-•■.«■«•" %.'''^^''jP V*"^^?^*V 








r^^^ 















fiV ^, 




















^7. 



W\\t MMm's ^xMwk mxA Mo\u, 







The Nation's Grratitude and tlope. 



A SERMON 



PREACHED IN 



THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 



PITTSBURaH, PA. 



ON THANKSGIVING DAY, NOV. 27, 1862 




Rev. ^VILt.IAM M. l^AXTON, D. U. 

It 

IPastov. 



PITTSBURGH: 

W. G. Johnston & Co., Printers and Stationers, 57 Wood and 105 Third Streets. 

18G2. 



Pittsburgh, November 28tb, 1862. 
Rev. TTm. M. Paxtox, D. D. : 

Dear Sir: — As we beard with profit and pleasure 
your sermon delivered on Thursda}-, 2ttli iust., (Thanksgiving Pay,) in 
the First Presbyterian Church of this city, we request you to furnish 
us a copy for publication; believing, as we do, that it will benefit all 
who will read it. 

We think there is one other reason beside those mentioned in your 

discourse why we should now thank God, and that is, for sending us 

ministers who know and are not afraid to speak the truth from the 
pulpit. 

We are most respectfully yours, 



J. P. Pears, 
Sam'l Bailey, 
Jacob Painter, 
F. G. Bailey, 

Jos. McKxiGHT, 
Wu. DiLWORTH, 

Jas. O'Hara, 
RiCfJARD Hays, 

And others. 



RoBT. Dalzell, 
RoBT. Beer, 
Rout. S. Davis, 
Jno. a. Re.vsuaw, 
D. W. Bell, 
A. S. Bell, 
Jas. Laughli.v, 
J.vo. D. McCoRD, 



SERMON. 



Eph. 5: 20.— (Silling tljanks nliyans, for oU tl)in95 nnto ©ob 
r.nb tl)e i'atljcr, in tl)c name of our I'orb Scsus (tljiist. 

Genesis 32: 10.-3 nm not xuorUjti of tljc Icnst of all tl)e mer- 
ries, anb of nil llje trull), iiil)icl) tijou Ijast sl)ciyeb unto tl)tj 
sertmnt. 

The first passage points out the things for 
which we should give thanks — "«7/ things" — for 
adversity as well as for prosperity, for sorrow as 
well as for joy, for reverses as well as for vic- 
tories. 

The second passage indicates the particular 
point of observation from which all our blessings 
should be regarded — from the low point of our utter 
unworthiness — "I am not worthy of the least of 

ALL THY MERCIES." 

Our estimation of blessings is enhanced, or 
diminished by the ''stand point" from which we 
view them. As seen from the heights of our own 
fancied worth and deservings, they may seem few 



6 



and inconsiderable; whilst viewed from the depths 
of our unworthiness or self-conscious ill-desert, they 
will appear great, numberless, adorable. 

Now, if the scriptures teach any thing, it is 
that we deserve nothing at the hand of Grod, ex- 
cept it be indignation and wrath. As a sinful race, 
under the ban of Apostacy, we can liave no claim 
upon his favor, either as individuals, communities 
or nations. To this low 'poinf. in the valley of 
humiliation we must descend if we would estimate 
our blessings aright. It was here Jacob stood when 
he said [in the text] " I am not worthy of the 
least of all the mercies and of all the truth 
which tliou hast shewed unto thy servant." It was 
here that Moses stood, in the deep low clefts of 
the rock, when God made all his goodness to pass 
before him ; and here must we stand, to-day, if we 
would see his mercies, and utter the memory of 
his great goodness. 

Assuming then, the low stand point of the 
text, and realizing that anything short of God's 
wrath is more than we deserve ; as we look up 
out of this depth, we sec our blessings like the 
stars of heaven, numberless, and all glittering in 
the light of infinite love. They stud the whole 
hemisphere of our vision. Around us in countless 
throngs are mercies and favors, strewing every 



pathway. Blessings rise before our view, like the 
ladder which Jacob saw, one upon an other, round 
upon round, reaching from earth to heaven ; where, 
losing sight of its towering summit, we know by 
faith that it is firmly fixed to the throne of God. 

Passing by, (for the sake of brevity,) in our 
enumeration, but not I trust, in the grateful re- 
cognitions of our hearts : 

Our Personal Blessings, with which the 
wings of each moment are laden : 

Our Daily Blessings — little appreciated be- 
cause so common ; and yet, just as full of divine 
love, as surprising and extraordinary favors ; for 
if we apply the microscope to an every day mer- 
cy, we shall discover in it, as in an atom or a 
water drop, the same demonstration of the jDres- 
ence of the Omnipotent, as in tte surprising in- 
terposition (hat has marked some great crisis of 
life. 

Passing also, our Family Blessings: the bless- 
ing of God upon the families of the righteous, — 
children" like olive plants around our tables;" 
the comforts and enjoyments of the domestic 
scene, the household hearth with all its fond famil- 
iar faces, the family board with its social joys, the 
merry voices that make glad music in all the 
dwelling, together with all those numberless in- 



door delights, those visits of kindness, and advents 
of gladness that make up a happy home. 

Passing all these, together with our social 
and Religious blessings, let us restrict our view, 
more especially, to those blessings which we should 
gratefully recognize as Citizens — as Members of 
THE Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and as Co- 
partners IN THIS Great jS'ational Union. 

I. 

As THE Inhabitants of these favored Cities, 
we owe to Hlai "who casts our lot," and ordains 
our vicissitudes a song of liveliest praise. Add- 
ed to all our advantages of location — in one of 
the most favored spots upon this wide conti- 
nent ; in a healthful climate, surrounded by a 
region of vast agricultural and mineral wealth : 
in the great '' (jateioaij of the i^-e-s?'^ " opening upon 
the valley of the Mississippi with its boundless 
resources ; at a ]3oint where fuel * (cheaper per- 

*NoTE. — 111 nothing, perhaps, is the superiority of the manufactur- 
ing advantages of this country so distinctly visible as in the article of 
Coal. In the report of the Patent Office for 18G1, I find the following 
statement : 

"There is Avilhin our limits at least four enoi'mous coal fields. — 
The Allegheny Coal field, covering large areas of Pennsylvania, Ohio, 
Virginia, Kentuckj-, Tennessee and Alabama, is estimated at G0,000 
square miles. Another coal field occupies the greater portion of Illinois 
and Indiana ; the third covers the most of Misso\xri, and the fourth the 
greater part of Michigan. Another small field lies on the Pacific coast, 



9 



haps than any where in the world,) enlists and 
stimulates every species of industrial enterprise, 
where noble rivers float down to us the treasures 
of inland wealth, and bear away to an exhaust- 
less market in the far West and distant South, 
the products of our mechanical skill ; (added, I 
say to all these abiding reasons for gratitude) 
we have to recognize the special and distinguish- 
ing goodness of G-od in many particulars during 
the present year. 

We have been preserved from pestilence and 
want, and, with a single exception, from distressing 
calamities. Whilst some cities have been wasted by 
the desolations of war, others convulsed with pan- 
ic and excited with midnight alarms, and others, 
still, embarrassed by monetary derangements, crip- 
pled with Southern losses, and agitated with ap- 
prehensions of general bankruptcy ; — we have been 
mercifully preserved from ruthless invasion, have 
kept the bounds of our habitation in peace, whilst 
the commercial embarrassments which have straight- 



making the aggregate area of coal field in the country near 200,000 
square miles. Great Britain has 11,8G0 square miles, Spain 3,408, 
France 1,'719, and Belgium 518 square miles. Thus the United States 
have more than ten times as much coal as Britain, France, Spain and 
Belgium united. And while for the most part in Britain the coal is 
mined at great depths, abundant strata of our coal crop out along our 
i-ailways and rivers, and, mined by horizontal shafts, tlie coal is car- 
ried by its own weight into boats and cars.'' 



10 



eiied other cities, have only increased our pros- 
perity — opening new avenues of enterprise, in- 
creasing the circulation of money, and so enlist- 
ing and rewarding labor that few years in our 
past history will compare with this in the sum 
total of its encouragements and rewards. 

But above all this, we have been highly fa- 
vored by Divine Providence in being enabled to 
furnish substantial and effective assistance in the 
sacred struggle for the defence of this home of 
freedom. Our mills have fora;ed the iron armor 
for vessels of war, — our artizans ' have constructed 
resistless rams to splinter the vessels and sink the 
armaments of the enemy. Our mechanics are 
framing floating batteries to shell the shores and 
open the channel of the Mississippi, and our foun- 
dries have moulded the mortars, cast the iron hail 
that sweeps the ranks of our enemies, and man- 
ufactured the thunder that makes all rebeldom 
tremble. 

For this privilege to do and skill to execute, 
let us give thanks. 

II. 

As the Citizen's of the Common^^ealth of 
Pennsylvania we are summoned by our Chief 
Magistrate, and I trust impelled also by the grate- 



11 



ful emotions of our own hearts, to give thanks to the 
Supreme Governor of all States, for the loros- 
perity that has crowned the year — for the health 
of our people, for the abundant harvests that have 
rewarded the labor of the husbandman, for the 
success of our commerce, for the vigor of our 
industrial enterprises, for the kind Providence that 
rolled back from our borders the tide of war, 
for the mercy of GJ-od in the fiict that not a drop 
of blood has been shed upon Pennsylvania soil, 
and for the hopeful omen that, with the excep- 
tion of an insignificant raid by a few madcap 
troopers, not one foot of our territory (the only 
sacred soil, because honestly purchased and paid 
for,) has been polluted by the tread of a rebel in- 
vasion. 

Thankfid, too, as Pennsylvanians, are we to 
recognize the operation of our beneficent laws ; 
and the beautiful harmony of the State and Na- 
tional Government — working as every State or- 
ganism should work, (according to the provis- 
ions of our admirable constitution,) "so as to hold 
the great national central government firm in its 
place, whilst the State Governments I'evolve around 
it in their respective orbits, without jostle, and con- 
trolled by the same mighty power." 



12 



Grateful too, must be tho feelings of every 
heart for the honorable position which the Sons 
of Pennsylvania occupy in the armies of the Re- 
public. One of the first regiments that, to the joy 
of the Presidetit, and the relief of the nation, 
entered the City of Washington, in that mem- 
orable week of suspense and peril, was a reg- 
iment from Pennsylvania ; and now her represen- 
tation in the field would compose an army lar- 
ger than England sent to the Crimea ; larger than 
Napoleon marshalled in the field of Armagenta. 
As she was the Key stone in the Federal Arch, 
so she bears her banners among the foremost in 
the field. She has furnished Generals to lead the 
host ; Field Marshals, Colonels, Captains, and pri- 
vates who have covered themselves with glory ; 
and on that monument which posterity will erect 
to the Heroes of Freedom, Pennsylvania, too, will 
inscribe her list of martyred heroes, who braved 
death rather than look upon their country's shame. 

III. 
Turning now in the third place to a broader 
survey, we shall find as Citizens, as co-partners 
IN THIS GREAT NATIONAL Union, good and substan- 
tial grounds, in the issues of the past year, for 
this public testimonial of gratitude to the great 
Governor among the nations. 



13 



In the First Place : — We should give thanks 
that no greater calamity than war has befal- 
LEN THE Nation. When God, provoked by public 
transgressions, takes it in hands to punish a na- 
tion, he sends what he designates by the mouth 
of his Prophet, ^^My four sore judgments, the sujord, 
the famine, the noisome hcast and the pestilence^ 
All these are linked together, and according to 
the divine plan, go sometimes hand in hand, and 
sometimes follow in a train, one upon the heels of 
the other. Now, when, of these four sore judg- 
ments, Grod has only inflicted one, and, awaiting our 
repentence, has in mercy withheld the others, shall 
we not praise him ? 

But, apart from these withheld afflictions from 
the hand of Grod, he has also held back other 
impending calamities that would have been icorse 
than loar. History certainly demonstrates the fact^ 
that there are national evils compared with wiiich 
war is as nothing, and for which the only prac- 
tical remedy has been, and in this present evil 
world, will continue to be, war. " P)etter, even, the 
horrors of the French Revolution, than the per- 
petual incubus of Royal debauchery and tyranny 
smothering the life of the people under its hide- 
ous weight. Better the fields of Austerlitz, of Jena, 
and of Marengo, than the Bastile and the In- 



14 



quisition." Better Rome in flames than the Ro- 
man people chahied to the car of Nero, 

So in our present position as a nation, war 
is not the worst of calamities. 

National dishonor would have been worse. 

The destruction, of tlds Union would have been 
worse — a union upon whose foundation has been 
built all the prosperity, strength and glory of the 
Republic, all the sacred monuments which make 
our country's name immortal, and all the power 
to make our immense continent the garden of the 
world, and our glorious principles the heritage of 
man : — a -union pregnant in all the past, only 
with blessings, and triumphs, and full in future 
promise only of honor and renown : — a union 
which every child should be taught to lovo next 
after liberty, and every citizen to cherish and 
venerate next after the blessings it was formed 
to win and secure. The destruction of such a 
union, would be a calamity to us, to our pos- 
terity, to the world, before which war, bloody, 
desolating war sinks to nothingness. 

Again: — An unwortliy compromise, or hase sur- 
render of tlie great principles involved in this 
issiie iL'OuJd he icorse than icar. 

I am well aware that there are those who 
affect to regard this conflict as a war about 



15 



nothing — a war of prejudice rather than of prin- 
ciple, an " irrepressible conflict between Cotton 
Gins and Cotton Jennies," between Boston and 
Charleston, or at most between office-seekers 
and office-holders. But all this, is either affect- 
ed for the purpose of deluding the unwary, or 
is the result of a driveling stupidity that can- 
not perceive the laws of historic progress, or 
the outworking of great principles in the con- 
vulsions of society. This whole conflict bristles 
with principles — principles vital to the hopes of 
freedom, and the progress of humanity. Look 
at them. If the principle of secession on the 
ground of independent sovereignty be true, then 
it precipitates the whole system of Civil liber- 
ty and Democratic government into a chaotic dis- 
organization. If we were to admit that mar- 
riage is not irrevocable, but a contract limited 
by the pleasure of the parties, you would not 
produce in domestic and social life, a greater 
confusion, than that which would follow in all 
our Republican institutions, by the admission of 
the principle that this Government is a mere 
Confederac}^, limited in its duration by the pleas- 
ure of independent States, — and dissolvable, so 
far as each State is concerned, whenever it sees 
tit to secede 



16 



If this be true, then there is no bond of 
Union, the American Revolution Wiis to no pur- 
pose, this attempt at self-government is an igno- 
minious failure, our free institutions must perish, 
and Monarchs or Despots must govern the 
world. Thus the point at stake is the vital 
element of Civil Liberty, for which our Fathers 
bled and died. 

Another principle involved in this contest, 
is tJie rigid of property- in human heimjs, — a prin- 
ci|)le in diametrical opposition to the foundation 
principle of our Republic. When the venerated 
Patriots who achieved our liberties came to ex- 
press, in the Declaration of Independence, the 
principles which they held to be self-evident, the 
first is : — That "all men are created equal ; that 
they are endowed by their Creator with certain 
inalienable rights ; that among these are life, 
liberty and the pursuit of happiness." And 
yet, in defiance of this pri]nary article of our 
creed, the Southern Confederacy is fighting for 
the right of property in human beings, and for 
slavery as the normal condition of human so- 
ciety. In this, they not only ignore this vital 
element of freedom, but the higher teaching of 
inspiration, that God '' hath made of one blood 
all nations of men for to dwell upon all the 



17 



face of the earth." If then, Grod has created 
all equal, where does the Southern nabob get 
his boasted hlo-rl — ^that ^^hstter hloocl'^ which ex- 
alts him as a lordling over the slave that 
crouches at his feet. Tlius you see, that the 
tendency of the principle is not only anti-scrip- 
tural, but strongly aristocratic: and hence it is 
no marvel that men thus educated should set 
loosely by our Republican institutions, and curse 
the Stars and Stripes that wave in emblem of 
universal freedom. 

The significant feature of this whole contest 
is, that it involves these and other vital issues : 
that great religious and moral questions have 
risen up into the sphere of politics, and that 
therefore the interests imperiled are such as em- 
bosom the life or the death of the nation, and 
the weal or woe of mankind. Can there then 
be a doubt, but that the timid compromise, or 
the base surrender of these principles would be 
icorse than 2car? 

Whilst then, we offer praise to God that 
no calamity worse than war lias befallen us, we 
should give thanks 

Second. That our National embarrassments 

IN THE existing WaR ARE NO GREATER. 



18 



It is recorded, that at the close of the 
Amerian Revolution, King George summoned the 
Bishop of London into his Council Chamber for 
the purpose of consulting him as to the pro- 
priety of proclaiming a day of Thanksgiving for 
the restoration of peace to his long disturbed 
kingdom. 

"For what" (inquired the Bishop) "are we 
to give thanks?" "Is it because your Majesty 
has lost thirteen of the fairest jewels of your 
Crown ?" 

"No," (replied the Monarch,) "not for that." 

"Well then," (continued the Bishop,) "shall 
we give thanks because so many millions of 
treasure have been spent, and so many millions 
have been added to the public debt?" 

"No, no," (replied the King,) "not for that." 

" Shall we then give thanks that so many 
of England's bravest sons have poured out their 
life blood, in this unhappy and unnatural strug- 
gle between those of the same race and the 
same religion?" 

" No, no, no," (exclaimed the King, the third 
time,) "not for that." 

" For what then," (rejoined the Bishop, grow- 
ing more earnest,) "for what are we to give 
thanks?" 



19 



"Thank God," (cried the King with great 
energy,) "thank God that it is not any luorsey 

The reply was wise, intelligent, scriptural. 
The King understood his duty better than the 
Bishop. 

In like manner, it is a matter of intelligent 
and devout thanksgiving to God, this day, that 
our circumstances as a nation are no icorse. When 
we remember that this conspiracy to destroy our 
government was deliberately formed and has been 
carefully maturing under the direction of most 
sagacious and wily politicians for many years ; 
that it extended secretly by means of oath bound 
associations till its toils had well nigh covered the 
land ; that it controlled political conventions, and 
filled offices of public trust with the minions of 
its secret treachery ; that it sprang upon us sud- 
denly in its full grown giant proportions, at a time 
when we were all asleep to our danger — when 
imbecility filled the Presidential Chair, and treason 
lurked in the Cabinet, when our navy had been 
designedly scattered to the four corners of the earth, 
and our army detailed to frontier and wilderness 
duty, when our arms had been stolen to 
crowd the arsenals of the South, and our ex- 
chequer depleted by fraud ; — when our military 
and naval commanders, secretly inoculated with 
the virus of treason, were ready, some to resign, and 



20 



others to surrender their posts and military stores 
into the hands of the enemy ; when half-hearted 
loyalists filled our commercial emporiums, and hosts 
of spies thronged our national capitol ; — when tim- 
idity and irresolution and party dissensions at 
home, paralyzed the executive arm, whilst sym- 
pathy with secession, from abroad, cheered on the 
rebellion ; — when, I pay, we remember all this, 
how thoroughly the treason was plotted and how 
utterly unprepared we were to meet it, it is cer- 
tainly a matter of devout gratitude to (lod that 
our condition is not far ivorse. 

Standing, as we did, like Samson shorn of his 
locks, when the cry was made, " the Philistines 
are upon thee, " it is a marvel that we are not 
all now bound hand and foot, and in the power 
of our enemies. 

Here then, is our answer to those who are 
disposed to take up this thoughtless and unintel- 
ligent, but would-be satirical inquiry : " What have 
we to give thanhs for ?'' — give thanks that, con- 
sidering all the interests that were imperiled, our 
condition is no icorse. True indeed we have much 
to lament. Eleven stars in our national constella- 
tion have "shot from their glorious spheres, and 
passed away, to darkle in the rayless void. " 
The national compact has been broken, brethren 
of our own blood have forced upon us an un- 



21 



natural war, which has wasted millions of our 
national treasure, slaughtered thousands of our 
bravest sons upon the field of battle, and filled 
the land with aching hearts and desolate homes. 

And yet we may give thanks. 

Allowing for all this, we may give thanks 
for rescue from impending dangers and imperiled 
interests, to which all this bears no comparison. 
Give thanks, — that this nation still exists, that 
this last experiment of self-government, embosom- 
ing the hope of human progress and the destiny 
of the world, has not expired in shameless fail- 
ure. Thanks, — that the dark shadow of the 
slave power has not projected itself across this 
heritage of freedom. Thanks, — for your homes 
and altars, undesecrated b}^ an invader's tread. 
Thanks, — that 3'ou have a National Capitol, around 
which the Sons of Freedom can rally. Tiianks, 
— that the terms of a dishonorable peace have 
not been dictated to us on the banks of the 
Delaware. Thanks, — that the grave of Libertv 
has not been dug upon the soil of Pennsylvania. 
Thanks, — that the requiem of Liberty has not 
been sounded from the summits of the- Alleghe- 
nies. 

But we are not like the English Monarch, 
left to this mere negative thanksgiving, — " That 



22 



our condition is no worse," — we have positive 
substantial blessings to call forth our song of 
praise. 

Did time permit, I would mention as a 
ground of thanksgiving, the deep spirit of Patriot- 
ism which has been enkindled in the hearts of 
the people. 

Also, the propriety of giving thanks for our 
reverses, for it is according to the plan of Him, 
"whose glory it is to conceal a matter," to send 
us blessings in disguise, and to make the "valley 
of Achor" the place of our humiliation, " tlie 
door of hope." Already we see the salutary 
results. Our reverses have taught us lessons of 
prudence and caution, they have chastened and 
humbled the national spirit, and are working a 
moral preparation for future success. It is doubt- 
less our national weakness to be proud anl 
boastful, and had we marched on in an un- 
checked course of sweeping, resistless victories, 
we should have been too proud and self com- 
placent to have retained God's favor, and too 
arrogant and imperious to have used our success 
profitably to ourselves or generously to our 
enomies. I verily believe that if we had been 
granted uninterrupted success, we should have 
become so conceited that there would have been 



23 



no such thing as living with us in the family 
of nations. But passing these for more impor- 
tant points, we should give thanks, 

Third. For our successes, — for the progress 
we have made, for the real and positive advan- 
TAGES ALREADY SECURED, I am well aware that 
there is in the public mind a feeling of disap- 
pointment, and, with some, a spirit of querulous 
dissatisfaction, that the rebellion has not been 
crushed, and that the year has passed and we 
are no nearer to a final victory or an honorable 
peace than when it began. But all this is the 
result of overwrought expectations. Calm, ju- 
dicious men who foresaw the difficulties and 
knew how utterly unprepared we were for such 
a contest, are not disappointed. "War," said 
General Scott, " requires time, men and money." 
To transfer a nation, such as ours, along such 
an indefinite line of territory, from a peace to 
a war footing, was in itself an immense under- 
taking. But all this done, the men and money 
secured, and the machinery of the Government 
adjusted to the new exigency, there still remained 
two things essential to military success, which time 
and patience could only accomplish. The one 
was, to tame the free spirit of men who were 
accustomed to do as they please, into submission 



24 



and obedienee to orders; and. the other was, to 
attam such discipline as would secure unity of 
movement. ISTo marvel then, if it has taken 
time to convert free independent Americans into 
such machines as good soldiers must of necessity 
become. And yet, notwithstanding all these ob- 
stacles, we have secured real, permanent advan- 
tages, attained positive substantial success. 

In a little more than one year we have 
trained a whole nation, even to the boys in the 
street, to war. We have developed national 
powers and resources which are absolutely as- 
tonishing. We have discovered and proved that 
ours is the strongest government on the face of 
the earth. Its power of cohesion seems adequate 
to any shock. England would not stand such a 
convulsion for a month, and France would have 
been driven to wreck and ruin before a storm 
of half such violence. 

But added to all this, our successes in the 
field have been real and hopeful. Look back 
for a year and remember the posture of affairs 
when we last assembled for tlianksgiving. The 
Rebellion, then intrenched in power in Western 
Virginia, has now abandoned the field. In Mis- 
souri, the Rebel Army which had then well nigh 
overrun the State, and which soon after captured 



25 



Lexington and threatened even St. Louis, has 
now fled from the territory, disabled and de- 
moralized. 

Then, the Rebellion occupied Tennessee, and 
many of the strongholds of Kentucky. But we 
have defeated them at Mill Spring, forced them 
to evacuate Bowling Green, captured Fort Henry, 
stormed Fort Donelson, occupied Nashville, van- 
quished and pursued them at Pittsburg Land- 
ing, besieged and driven them from Corinth ; 
and now, when they are on the eve of abandon- 
ing their last hope in Eastern Tennessee, the 
indomitable Kosecrans is pressing them at Mur- 
freesboro and Chattanooga, whilst the victorious 
Grant is driving them in the far South. 

But look again. One year ago the Rebellion 
occupied . the whole length of the Missisippi 
with all its points of defence, from Cairo to 
New Orleans; but now, we have frightened them 
from Columbus, surprised them at New Madrid, 
shelled them at Island No. 10, shattered and 
sunk their boasted Armada, captured Memphis 
and opened the Mississippi to Vicksburg; whilst 
our Navy, entering the Mississippi by the Gulf, 
and engaging its boasted fortifications in a battle, 
that for heroic endurance amidst storms of shell 
and fire, has few parallels, passed onward in 



26 



triumph to the undisputed capture and occupancy 
of the City of New Orleans. .Thus we are pos- 
sessed of the principal strongholds and chief 
vantage grounds along the whole western and 
south-western border : and yet men say we have 
done nothing. ' 

Look again. One year ago the flag of the 
Rebellion floated in the sight of our National 
Capitol; the Merrimac, from Norfolk, threatened 
Fortress Monroe, whilst from thence southward the 
whole territory was in the almost undisputed pos- 
session of the enemy ; but now, Northern Virginia 
is almost abandoned ; the Merrimac, the great 
Philistine of the Confederacy, has sunk to an in- 
glorious grave ; Norfolk is occupied by the N"ational 
forces, whilst the waters of the Albemarle, the 
defences of North Carolina ; Hilton Head and 
Beaufort, threatening the great nation of South 
Carolina ; Fort Pulaski and the entrances to Savan- 
nah commanding the shores of Georgia, with 
numerous salient points on the coast of Florida, 
are all in the possession of the Federal arms. 

Thus, the whole circumference of the Confed- 
eracy is actually invested ; through the whole 
circuit we have driven them inward from their 
original defences ; and at every point we are in 
present actual possession of the vantage ground. 



27 



But, im have, also, marhs of progress of a 
(lijfirent hut Jiif/Jicr Idml. Listen to the echoes 
of that prochimation which is carrying the tidings 
of Uberty to the shive ; hut striking terror to 
the heart of the rebelKon. Ah jes, there is 
progress in the Gahlnet as well as in the field. 
Instead of the cautious, timid, vacillating policy of 
one year ago, the President has risen like a 
"strong man armed," and seized the monster, and 
with that proclamation of liberty he is now 
throttling him in his den. If this year had done 
nothing more than induce this advance in the 
convictions of the people and in the policy and 
decisions of the Government, it would be a yeai- 
long to be remembered. We hail it as an ad- 
vancing step in the progress of the race, and in 
the triumphs of principle — a stride onw^ard and 
upward, which fifty years in the common pro- 
gress of civilization would have failed to achieve. 
Let us thank God that this one 3'ear counts 
fift}^ in the march of freedom. 

Fourth. We should render thanks, this day, 
TO Him in whose hands are the hearts of all 

MEN, FOR THE FIRM AND INVINCIBLE DETERMINATION 
WITH WHICH HE HAS IMBUED THE N'aTIONAL MIND, TO 
RESIST THE DISSOLUTION AND MAINTAIN THE INTEG- 
RITY OF THIS UNION. 



28 



There are, indeed, a few timid minds who 
say, ''Why not let them go?^^ "Let us recognize the 
Confederacy and he done icllh this ivar.^' But this 
is a vain delusion. The establishment of the 
Confederacy instead of securing peace, would 
only inaugurate a bitter, bloody, border warfare 
that woiild last for years to come. Where two 
nations with rival interest have no natural 
boundary line, incessant collisions are inevitable. 
How could it be otherwise, with slaves upon one 
side, and abolitionists upon the other. All the 
causes of our dissensions being thus indefinitely 
multiplied, it would induce an unceasing strife, 
which would cripple commerce, paralyze enter- 
prise, subject us to incessant alarms, and require 
a standing army (to protect 1,500 miles of 
boundary,) so large as to exhaust the nation 
with a perpetual taxation. 

Again : If the Southern Confederacy is es- 
tablished, what is to prevent them from resuming 
their allegiance to Great Britain, or becoming a 
dependency of the French crown ? This would 
establish a foreign power by our side, to espouse 
their cause, and in the end to reduce us to 
vassalage. 

Again : Admit the principle of secession and 
what is to hold the Northern States together ? 



29 



If South Carolina may secede, Wisconsin has the 
same right. There is, then, no bond of Union, 
and petty disagreements may at any time sever 
us into three or four parts, or into as many 
separate nationalities as there are States, with as 
many different forms of government as the ca- 
price of each may dictate. This result is inev- 
itable. The principle once admitted, the Republic 
must perish. 

Still another reason why disunion must be 
resisted to the last, is the ruinous results which 
must follow from the change of our national 
boundary line. It is a well settled principle that 
no State can attain high or permanent prosperity 
whilst her boundaries are insecure. "What would 
England be but for her ocean . girth ? What 
would Switzerland be but for her mountain bar- 
riers? The Alps long sustained the ^ dying 
grandeur of Rome.'"" This, also, is one element of our 
national strength. No nation ever had such boun- 
daries as the United States. " Oceans separate us 
from the vigorous civilizations of Europe on the 
East, and from the decaying nations of Asia on 
the West. The Gulf and the Rio Grande divide 
us from Mexico on the South, whilst the Lakes 
and the St. Lawrence separate us from Canada 

*Addres3 of W. Collins, Esq , to the people of Marrlfxnii. 



30 



on the North," W^'ith these boundaries we grow 
and prosper, haying the nations of the earth un- 
der the necessity of a friendly alliance. But 
exchange these noble boundaries for an artificial 
line, run by a surveyor's compass, and leaving a 
vast stretch of thousands of miles open to hostile 
incursion, and you lay at once the foundation of 
weakness and decay. 

But if this iDould he national wjury, ive argue^ 
again, that it luould he far worse to surrender to 
a rival and hostile power the occupancij of the 
mouth of the Mississippi, A single glance at the 
map shows the utter ruin which must be en- 
tailed upon the ISTorth by allowing a government 
to be established in the South which will con- 
trol the commerce of a river fed b}^ tributaries 
from Pittsburgh on the East, to the Rocky Moun- 
tains on the West, and the Lakes on the North, 
and therefore the natural outlet for the products 
of that vast territory. It is a point too vital 
to the life of the nation ever to be surrendered. 
When the mouth of the Mississippi was held by 
Spain, and afterwards by France, our statesrnen 
entertained great fears for the future; and when 
at last its possession became possible, so import- 
ant did they regard it, that they did not hesitate 
to violate the constitution to make the acquisi- 



31 



tion. The history of this is interesting and ad- 
monitory, Napoleon's eagle eye saw the impor- 
tance of the month of this great river ; and with 
a vie.w to acquiring this, together with the im- 
mense district then known as Louisiana, as a 
vast colonial dependence of France, he tempted 
Spain, whose statesmen did not seem to know 
its worth, to cede it to France as a compensa- 
tion for the favor of creating a Kingdom of Etruria 
for a Bourbon Prince. But before Napoleon 
could complete his plans, he saw that England, 
with her vast naval power, could wrest this rich 
prize from his grasp before he could arrange for 
its secure possession. In this exigency, seeing 
that the United States was destined to rival 
England's maritime power, he resolved to strengthen 
us, and at the same time put the prize beyond 
England's grasp, by transferring the whole terri- 
tory to the United States. Mr. Jefferson, then 
in the Presidential chair, eagerly seized the offer. 
Though it was, as he believed, in violation of the 
constitution, it was so essential to both the pros- 
perity and the security of the countr}^, that he 
sent Mr. Monroe to form and ratify the contract. 
Now, to surrender, to rebels and enemies, a point 
invested with such a history, a point so prized by 
our greatest statesman, so essential to every inter- 



32 



est, and so manifestly put into our hands as the 
gift of Divine Providence, is a thought from which 
every patriot should shrink with an indignant and 
defiant recoil. 

Finally, let us thank God for the hope of 
triumph and firmer nxvtional establishment that 
opens up to us in the future. 

I know well that there are many, who, with 
an anxiety bordering on despondency, are inquir- 
ing, "What is to be the end of all this?" "After 
all is it not a question whether we can succeed 
in crushing this rebellion?" We shall succeed; 
for two reasons : 

1st. Because ave are right, and under the 
government of God right is might. The struggle, as 
we have shown, is a struggle of principles, and 
who that has read history has not learned that 
ideas, principles, are mightier than armies. Frin- 
ples have achieved more victories, subdued more 
kingdoms, wrought greater revolutions and crush- 
ed more tyrants, than "horsemen or chariots.'' 
Ideas 2:0 boomins; through the world louder than 
cannon. If the Confederacy was a weak, op- 
pressed remnant, crushed under wrongs and woes, 
and struggling up by the power of a high and 
holy principle, I would say that no military 
preparation could ever crush them. But instead 



of this, they are a band of conspirators, mad- 
dened by the poison of wicked principles, fight- 
ing to overthrow tlie only free government on 
the face of the earth, and to establish another on 
the corner-stone of oppression and wrong. They 
fight not for liberty, but for slavery ; not in self- 
defence, but as aggressors ; not for rights, but by 
blood to justify the foulest treason. Tliey will 
fail because they are lorong ; ice will succeed be- 
cause we are riglit. 

Our second reason for hope of success is 
hecause we have the 'pJiysical 'power io acliieve it. 
Xot only is God on our side because we are 
right, but we have, also, as Napoleon said, 
" the heavy battalions." Between the ages of 
eighteen and forty-five we have four millions of 
men. They have one million three hundred 
thousand. The proportion is, therefore, more 
than three to one. In every other respect our 
superiority is still greater. We have more mon- 
' ey, more resources, more elements of power, 
more munitions of war, our soldiers are better 
fed, better clothed, better protected, better nursed, 
and are better nerved, because conscious of 
right, and animated to persevere by the memory 
of the heroism that purchased our liberties. 



34 



Added to all this, we have Gunboats to 
penetrate their rivers, and a Navy to sweep their 
defenceless coast. 

Now, with these preponderating advantages, 
with might and right upon our side, what is to 
hinder our success ? 

You answer, ^^ Foreign Literventiony But is 
such an intervention probable ? Nay verily. 
England cannot interpose without a sacrifice of 
commercial interests that would be positively 
ruinous. I am informed, by one of our states- 
men, that, exclusive of Cotton^ one-half of the 
imports of Great Britain are from the United 
States. Think you that England would Ije so 
mad as to sacrifice one-half her commerce ? 
But, added to this, the injury to her Canadian 
Colonies would be dis istrous. There exists at 
present a reciprocity treaty, between the Can- 
adas and the United States, by which a large 
portion of their products enter the United States 
free of duty. By the operation of this treaty 
the commerce of the Canadas has reached an 
increase of sixteen millions of dollars per an- 
num. The advantages of this treaty are incon- 
siderable to us, but immense to then^ It has 
opened to western Canada a boundless market. 



35 



has populated districts which were hitherto a 
wilderness, and is, now, the principal and almost 
only source of their prosperity. Now, as this 
treaty expires, by limitation, next year, any in- 
terference of England in our affairs will forfeit 
the advantages of a Colonial commerce worth 
sixteen millions of dollars. But beyond this, 
England is bound to a strict neutrality by a 
stringent necessity. That enlightened statesman, 
John Bright, has just demonstrated to the peo- 
ple of England their dependence upon the United 
States for bread. The summary of his argument 
is this : " they want Cotton, and, therefore, 
feel disposed to interpose ; but they need bread, 
and, therefore, they dare nofJ' 

The same position is taken by Mr. Cobden 
in a recent speech at Manchester, England, in 
which he says : 

" You get an article even more important 
than your cotton from America — your food. 
[Hear.] In the last session of Parliament an 
honorable member, himself an extensive miller 
and corn dealer, moved for a return of the 
quantity of grain and flour for human food, im- 
ported into this country from the 1st of Sep- 
tember of last year, to the 1st of June in the 
present year. His object was to show what would 



36 



have been the efiect on the supplies of food 
brought to this kingdom, if the talk of war in 
relation to the Trent affair had urihappily been 
realized. Well, his estimate was, that the food 
imported from America between September of 
last year and June of this year, was equal to 
the sustenance of between 3,000,000 and 4,000,000 
of people for a whole twelvemonth, and his re- 
mark to me was — I quote his own words — 
that if food had not been brought from America, 
all the money in Lombard street could not 
have purchased it elsewhere, because elsewhere 
it did not exist," 

If then, as appears from these statements, the 
interference of England is precluded, both by 
interest and necessity, is there danger of inter- 
vention upon the part of France? We think 
not, for two reasons : 

First, — T3ecause France is fully occupied with 
her Mexican troubles. Baflicd and humiliated 
by her Mexican intervention, she will not be 
eager to learn any more bitter lessons from the 
same school. 

But Secondly, — It is not the interest or 
policy of France, in any way, to cripple or 
weaken the power of the United States. — 
The same policy which induced Napoleon to 



37 



transfer to the United States the territory of 
Louisiana, would lead France, now, to uphold us 
in the maintenance of our national power. — 
The growing maritime strengtJi of this nation 
is the only effective check to the supremacy of 
England on every sea. Hence, France, to curb 
the aggressive spirit of her great rival, must 
uphold the United States, as the only competi- 
tor of England for the dominion of the great 
waters. 

As then, England cannot and France loill not 
interpose ; and as the feeling of Russia in return 
for American sympathy in her time of trial, is that 
of open and declared friendship, the a23prehension 
of " Foreign intervention " may be dismissed as 
utterly without foundation. This being the case, 
we repeat the inquiry — ''What is to hinder our 
success ? " * 

With might and right upon our side, and 
the danger of Foreign intervention removed, the 
result of the whole struggle seems (under God,) 
to be entirely in our own hands. If we can 
put away all party dissensions and feel the com- 
mon impulse of a deep and pure spirit of 
patriotism; and if, with a clear recognition of 
the hand of God in this trial, and an humble 
dependence upon His strength and guidance for 



38 



success, wo can go forth hand in liand in this 
contest, there is no reason why the "Stars and 
Stripes " may not soon wave in triumph from the 
towers of Richmond and the battlements of 
Sumpter ; no reason why, upon the 22d of next 
February, we may not unite the celebration of 
the birth-day of Washington, with that of final 
victory and restored peace, — -the new birth of 
our Country's prosperity with the birth of our 
Country's Father. 

May Grod fulfil the anticipation ; and in this 
confidence let us utter our Song of Praise. 



54 W 



Ao, 



J' 






\ 



^ .-i^ 







"Kr^i^ 







^a»<i^ 







a5>^ ^. 














^- /\/.l 



i^' 






